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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Ladyfingers

My family and I love Honolulu. In my opinion, it's a foodie's paradise. Having been there numerous times, we now have our favorite spots that we just have to hit in order to get that special something that can't be found anywhere else (or at least not the same quality).

One of those places is Leonard's Bakery which is famed for their malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts rolled in sugar). While picking up some malasadas, however, we happened to notice that the bakery had made ladyfingers that day as well. Since we all love ladyfingers, we bought a small bag of those too. The ladyfingers were absolutely delicious, so soft and not at all dry. One bag just wasn't enough so we called the bakery the next day to see if they had more. To our dismay, we were told that the baker hadn't made any that day, and, furthermore, he wasn't planning on making more anytime soon either. Noooooooo!!! Whatever would we do?

Well, there was only one solution - find a recipe and make our own. And that's exactly what I did. I admit it's a little labor intensive since you have to whip the egg yolks and whites separately and then fold everything together. But, it was so worth it when it came time to take those spongy ladyfingers out of the oven and bite into their crisp sugar crust. My family ate them up and agreed that they were every bit as good as Leonard's (what a compliment!). So, from now on, my family will go to Leonard's Bakery for malasadas and "Lisa's Bakery" for ladyfingers.

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a 17"x12" baking sheet with parchment paper. Fit a large pastry bag with a plain 1/2" round tip.

Place egg whites in a bowl and beat on high until soft peaks start to form. Slowly add 2 Tbsp. of the sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. In another bowl, beat egg yolks with remaining sugar. Whip until thick and very pale in color. Add the vanilla to the yolks.

Sift flour and baking powder together on a sheet of wax paper. Fold half of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in flour, and then fold in the remaining egg whites. Transfer mixture to pastry bag and pipe out onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake 7-8 min. Do not allow to turn golden brown.

Lisa, these look great. I've been looking for recipes to make some Tiramisu from scratch, including all the components, since you don't find them readily here. What a coincidence that you tried these out!

I'm so glad "Lisa's Bakery" shared her wonderful recipe for Ladyfingers!! I never thought about making them from scratch, and these sound wonderful. Ladyfingers are such a delicious, classic treat, and so useful in so many dessert recipes. Thank you so much for sharing this post with the Hearth and Soul blog hop.